While in Hungary, KB, Emily and I visited the House of Hungarian Wines at Buda Castle in Budapest.

We each decided to do a prix fixe tasting of seven different wines (three whites, three reds, and a dessert wine), but were slightly caught off guard by the price when we realized each tasting cost around $40 each.

That price might be appropriate for Napa or Sonoma, but for Hungary (a country that isn’t even on the Euro yet, and currently has a 225-to-1 forint-to-dollar exchange rate) it was pretty steep.

Until we realized that by each “tasting” they meant “nearly full pour.” Needless to say, we were there quite awhile.

The night started off well with glass #1.

And the warmth began to set in with glass #2.

We chilled out with glass #3.

But the paranoia started to set in with glass #4.

Which created the prankster antics of glass #5.

Which lead to the violence of glass #6.

But in the end, like most people, we all fell in love with each other by glass #7.

Back in December, I got my fourth tattoo. I had been thinking about getting this one for years now, so when KB got me a free tattoo “coupon” for my birthday last September, I decided to cash it in while we were back in Milwaukee for Christmas.